Présentation de l'éditeur
Inasmuch as the use of certain articles of wealth is essential to existence, and the possession of others conduces to comfort and pleasure, the determination of the respective property rights of individuals is a matter of interest and consequence. Units of Measurement. The exercise of exclusive rights over property presupposes an interest in the extent of the ownership. The savage who claimed the ownership of his weapons undoubtedly preferred as many as he could conveniently use to a less number, insufficient for his needs. One of the chief incentives for an enumeration, or count, is thus found, and it is supplied by the method of numbering one, two, three, etc. that is used to some extent by all races, civilized or uncivilized. In this way, an idea of the number or extent of things is expressed. Many articles, in their nature lend themselves conveniently to measurement in mere numbers. Thus, it may be said that there are forty cars in the train, and that there are ten trains a day for six days of the week. Numbers are divided into convenient groupings, as for example, gross or score, and by custom the terms are applied to certain things, as a dozen of eggs or a gross of pens. A nother common grouping is into ten, or multiples thereof. Other things are measured more conveniently by a special unit. Thus, wheat is measured by the bushel, fluids by the gallon, coal by the ton and cloth by the yard. Numbers are relied upon, however, to convey an idea of the extent of the units, and thus it is said that ten tons of coal will supply fuel for a house, or that forty bushels of wheat are contained in the load. It is obviously inconvenient to state an aggregate ownership of the articles of wealth in the various units of measurement, for it would be necessary to state it in bushels, yards, gallons, etc. It was done in this way at one time, however, and there are record
(Typographical errors above are due to OCR software and don't occur in the book.)
Les informations fournies dans la section « A propos du livre » peuvent faire référence à une autre édition de ce titre.
